Kurt Angle Wants You To Know About The Time He Out-Wrestled Brock Lesnar

Current TNA world heavyweight champion and former Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle recently spoke to Sports Illustrated about the time he totally kicked Brock Lesnar’s ass at wrestling. Oh, it’s real.

“We fought in a wrestling ring during the day before our show. It wasn’t fun. It was nerve-wracking. Someone was going to win, get hurt, or die.

The match started because someone asked how he’d do in the ring against me. Brock said I was too small for him. That got to me.”

Kurt obviously had a lot of pride to defend, because I think most other people would just flat out agree with everything Brock Lesnar says to avoid getting mauled.

“Brock was in the ring with Big Show. He was literally throwing this 530-pound man around the ring like a little kid. I’d never seen anyone lift up Big Show like that without his help, but Brock was picking him up and throwing him around.

I said to Big Show, ‘Get out of the ring.’ Then I tapped Brock on the shoulder and said, ‘Let’s go.’ And that’s when we started.”

Again, this is where Kurt differs from most people. Personally, I’d start paying a tithe to Brock if I saw him Harlem Globetrotter spinning Big Show around on his index finger.

“You’re one of the best in the world as an NCAA champion like Brock, but when you’re an Olympic gold medalist, that’s a whole other level. The guys who saw Brock and I wrestle that day witnessed how much of a gap there is between the two.

We were doing take-downs, and it was very, very tight. Brock showed me that he knows how to wrestle. A lot of heavyweights are big and strong and know how to use their weight, but Brock knew how to wrestle. He was a lightweight who grew into a heavyweight body, and he brought that technique with him. That’s how good Brock was.

There’s nobody like Brock. The man is just a mammoth. When he’s healthy, I don’t know if there is anyone on the planet who can beat him.

When I got done with him, I didn’t want to wrestle him again.”

Finally, something Kurt and I can agree on – don’t wrestle Brock Lesnar a second time.

The interview wasn’t just about how great of an amateur wrestler Kurt is – he also spoke about getting snubbed by Triple H.

“I haven’t spoke openly about this, but I opened up my options and was going to decide between TNA and WWE. I wasn’t going to leave TNA unless WWE was offering a fair deal.

Paul [Levesque] is in charge. I found that out when I contacted Vince. I’ve always had a good relationship with Paul, so I didn’t consider that a problem. But he decided they had enough talent.

For the Vince McMahon who I knew, enough was never enough. He always wanted more. I don’t know what was going on over there, but they even canceled our meeting. I never went to see them. They didn’t even sit me down and talk to me.”

I was going to say it’s less that WWE has enough talent, but that they don’t really need a middle aged guy with a broken down body. Then again, WrestleMania 31 did have Undertaker, Sting, and Triple H all in marquee matches, so…

“But I’m going to be straight with you. The WWE would have made more money this year if they would have signed me. That’s no secret.

The best match of the year would have been between myself and Daniel Bryan. Rusev would have made sense, and Brock and I could have went at it again.”

I’ll be honest, I haven’t been keeping up with TNA a whole lot, so I don’t know how much of Kurt is being held together with wishes and kitten sneezes, but he’s probably not wrong with those three match ideas. I’m sure they’d all be fine.

Ultimately, though, Kurt says he is happy to be in TNA. He’s also glad that Dixie Carter will allow him a night off without docking his pay, something he says would have never happened with Vince McMahon.

No doubt Hunter squashed this because a) Kurt Angle can kick his ass for real and he’s developed some weird reverse Napoleon complex and b) Kurt was more beloved than HHH during their peaks. Fans care about Kurt, they don’t about Hunter.

A few months ago, they definitely needed credible, top talent, so that doesn’t pass the smell test.

I’m a wrestling fan, and I care about Hunter. I love NXT, and regardless of what us fans know about “the business” we will never know the whole story. Triple H taking his punishment in the 90’s for the curtain call is enough to earn my respect as a pro-wrestler. Thanks for speaking for an entire group of people!

I will say this. Daniel Bryan vs. Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania this year would have been a much better consolation prize for their most popular wrestler than the B+ Players Memorial Ladder Match.
Even if it might be an aggressively terrible idea to put those two men in the ring together.

You MIGHT have been able to nerf the Reigns backlash if it seemed like there was a marquee matchup for the most popular wrestler on the show.

That Reigns backlash has taken on a life of it’s own. The guy got pinned in the Wrestlemania Main Event. Even before the run in happened, he got laid out cleanly. If that would have happened to Bryan, I’m pretty sure the comment section here would have exploded. People are still mad that he’s getting cheered.

I still would really like to see a Bryan-Angle match. Or a Lesnar-Angle match.

I just caught a Cornette thing on youtube where he talked about advising Seth Rollins not to go to TNA while Seth was still in ROH. The reason was primarily contractual but he also says he told Rollins that he doesn’t think the WWE has much interest in guys that are just coming out of TNA. The interview was taped sometime after Wrestlemania. He talked about how much Seth had done to earn that opportunity in the WWE but also used his time on the microphone to put over how important it is to listen to Jim Cornette.

I’m no TNA guy but Angle’s a legitimate star in the business. He’s amazing in the ring. He’s fantastic on the mic. He’s got a background that adds some degree of legitimacy to all of his matches.

Maybe the WWE was just worried about his long-term health or there was some other issue but I’m thinking Cornette may have had a point.

I think the issue, even for a guy like Angle, is that the WWE doesn’t acknowledge TNA as a thing that exists. They basically rewrote Sting’s history to make it seem like he hadn’t wrestled in over a decade so that they could avoid mentioning TNA at all. And they only did that because Sting is the greatest wrestler of the modern era who had – to that point in time – never wrestled in the WWE.
For anyone else, wrestling in TNA is like not wrestling at all in the eyes of the WWE from a promotional POV. How is the WWE supposed to sell you?

JBL: Oh my god, Maggle!!! That’s (insert name here)!!! He’s the greatest wrestler to ever set foot in the ring of that two-bit clownshow wrestling league we shall never name because it’s basically one step up from two kids bodyslamming each other on an old mattress in their backyard!!!

I would’ve been so down with an Angle vs Rusev storyline, or him vs Bryan. Lesnar, sure the concept is cool, but I’m less interested in that than I am seeing Lesnar work with new guys. But I also can’t shake the feeling that Kurt Angle is one hell of an unstable cat who may or may not be in the best of health. Not that that necessarily precludes one from wrestling, but it’s something to consider.

I’m sure Brock could fuck Kurt up now, ’cause Kurt’s all old and shit. But him being an Olympic gold medalist, I’m pretty sure Brock’s not in his league if Kurt’s in his prime. Stronger, certainly. A better fighter? Absolutely. But as far as wrestling goes, they should be worlds apart. So I don’t find this difficult to believe at all.

They shelved Sheamus until after Mania because they said they didn’t have anything for him, and they shelved Orton for months for the same reason. During that time, they booked/rebooked the same matches on Raw and Smackdown, and Brock was champ and didn’t have to show up but x-many times a year, so…..

I don’t know if they’re scared of the potential for serious injury or if it’s a personality issue, but out of all the past their prime guys available, Kurt Angle WWE is the only one I want to see back in WWE. You could put him against particularly anyone, and it’d be awesome. Hell he could resuscitate Bo Dallas — Bo’s character is just Three I’s Kurt Angle anyway.

God I miss in-his-prime Kurt. Probably my favourite wrestler of all-time. But do I need to see him back in the WWE? If his recent TNA stuff has proven anything, it’s that he needs to move aside for young talent, he just doesn’t have it anymore.

Kurt has a bit of Hulk Hogan syndrome. He’s not in his prime. He can’t turn his head because of a fused neck. He walks with a strange gait, because of past injuries. He doesn’t want to wrestle a full schedule (nor should he). I can see why WWE wouldn’t want him back.